Cosmopolitan London.

[MANICHAEAN]

Cosmopolitan London.

I went today for a medical in London and cannot help but reflect, (despite Brexit) on the cosmopolitan nature of this great metropolis.

For a start, (and these were very professional) I had; an Indian doctor check my bp and take blood, a. Zimbabwe nurse give me an ECG, whilst a Gaza Strip born Palestinian undertook the chest x-ray.

Once completed, I exited onto Marylebone Rd to come across what I judged to be a Syrian beggar sitting by a bus stop holding a sign saying. " I'm starving." So, having myself just completed a 15 hour pre-medical fast, his prayers were answered, for I carried on my person the remnants of a rather substantial half a cheddar cheese & English mustard sandwich. He smiled and saw the humour of it when proffered; as presumably in reality he wanted money. Then the remnant street scavengers closed in. Two young Bulgarian girls begging me for money, tugging my sleeve and calling me "father!!"


I thought this odyssey had run its course by the time I got off the train back in Hatfield. But no. Whilst waiting for my lift outside the station, I was approached by an Indian lady who politely asked if I had a spare pound. Having obtained it she crossed the road to the public house opposite and I can only surmise my pound was spent on the evils of drink, or she was asking the proprietor if he had a spare pint!!

Quite a day full of variety. Oh, but here comes my Nigerian friend in his car to give me a lift home!!!

[Steven Hunley]

I love this piece to pieces. We have many refugees here too. Somalia, Ethiopia, Burmese and Thai, Vietnamese due to our involvement. Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Haiti. Congo, Nigeria, Ethiopia. Taught ESL at Hoover High School the other day. 12 kids, all from somewhere else, mostly Asian and African nations and a few from South and Central America.

Told them not to worry, and not to worry about the wall either, that Americans that put down immigrants are putting down their own families down the line somewhere in history. Right now, the percent of native Americans is just above two percent. The other 98 percent is from somewhere else.

We are an immigrant nation.

Diversity, in this Democratic experiment of ours, is what gives us the strength to endure.

E pluribus unum.

That's why I absolutely love your stuff. You're a man of the world. Kudos to you for this piece.